After the euphoria of the Golden Jubilee celebrations, the Goldsmiths Choral Union maintained its usual level of concert-giving in major London concert halls. These venues were soon to include the Barbican Hall, in the Barbican Centre, opened in 1982. But from the mid-1980s funding became seriously constrained and new sources of financial support had to be found as the public purse-strings were tightened. Fund-raising events such as workshops and Summer Sings and collaborations with charities helped to keep the choir financially solvent, while a move to a somewhat smaller-scale repertoire in the 1990s allowed it to husband its resources without compromising its artistic standards. Its success in staging concerts without full-scale orchestral accompaniment in such venues as St James's Church, Piccadilly, and St John's, Waterloo, proves how well the choir adapted to the new cultural climate in Britain.
A New Cultural Climate: 1982-Today
Post-Jubilee changes
Following the choir's 50th anniversary celebrations, the summer of 1982 saw a repeat performance of Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts, this time at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall (RAH). During the spring of 1983 the choir staged a performance of Beethoven's magnificent Missa Solemnis in the Royal Festival Hall (RFH) with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The autumn of 1983 saw a major change of both rehearsal day and venue from Tuesday evenings at St Michael's School, Graham Terrace, near Sloane Square to Wednesdays at Baden Powell House in South Kensington, where we still rehearse today. After 25 years at St Michael's, the change was a terrific wrench. We lost a few members for whom Wednesday evenings were already committed, but we also gained others in compensation.
In March 1984 a special performance of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius was given with the National Centre for Orchestral Studies Orchestra (NCOS). This was at the London Oratory, Brompton, to celebrate the centenary of its founding by Cardinal Newman, who also wrote the words to the Dream. Moreover, it was the church where Elgar was married in 1889.
It was good to team up with the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in a performance of Brahms's A German Requiem at Guildford Cathedral in March 1985. Two weeks later saw both choirs together again at the RFH performing Verdi's Requiem.
Summer Sings
The summer break of 1985 saw the introduction of Summer Sings. These were something more than workshops: the GCU invited any singers to join it for three social evenings (reduced to two from 1991) singing a major choral work (or works) under Brian Wright's baton, with wine afterwards. These proved so successful that they have been an annual event ever since and can attract over 200 singers on any one evening.
Our association with Guildford continued the next year, both at the cathedral and at St David's Hall in Cardiff. The late Sir Charles Groves conducted Tippett's A Child of our Time and Beethoven's Symphony No 1 at both concerts.
In June 1987 at the RFH, the GCU performed Mozart's last three works: Davidde Penitente, Ave Verum and the Requiem. Less than a month after the 'hurricane' struck southern England on 16 October that year, the GCU, perhaps appropriately, gave the first performance of Weathers, a setting of four Thomas Hardy poems composed by Peter Skellern. Peter confesses in the programme that he has written very little serious music. Christmas 1987 saw the last carol concert on behalf of The Save the Children Fund at the RAH. The choir's association with this charity had spanned 10 years.
The Mask of Time
The GCU returned to Guildford again in March 1988 to perform Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts. But perhaps the highlight of the year was a performance of Tippett's last great choral work The Mask of Time at the RFH in June. The Mask had had its debut in Boston only four years previously, in 1984. The work was expansive not only in the breadth of the music, but also in the size of the copies: the piece came in two weighty volumes! Sir Michael himself gave a pre-concert talk. A one-off visit to the Snape Maltings to give a carol concert took place on 18 December.
Overseas and nationwide
1989 proved an interesting year for the choir. In March a performance of Geoffrey Burgon's Requiem was given with the NCOS symphony orchestra at Goldsmiths' College, followed a week later by a trip to Valencia in Spain to repeat the work with the city's Orquestra Municipal conducted by Manuel Galduf. During the charter flight, five choruses from Messiah were sung, one for each mile of altitude! The Valencia trip proved a great way of building team spirit, and everyone who went on it had great fun.
The choir was back with the NCOS on 1 June for a performance of Britten's War Requiem in the RAH. Sadly, this was our last association with NCOS, which was disbanded at the end of the summer term.
Arguably the highlight of the year was a performance of Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts on 15 July in the RAH organised by the GCU in association with the National Federation of Music Societies – a mammoth 'summer sing'. Brian Wright conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Robert Tear as tenor soloist. Over 1,600 singers from more than 30 choirs countrywide attended, and arranging the seating took some doing! There was a little room left for an enthusiastic audience as performers took up the whole of the arena, all the choir stalls and about a third of the main stalls. An experience never to be forgotten! Christmas saw our first British Telecom charity carol concert at the RAH; Peter Skellern and Richard Stilgoe were soloists on this occasion.
Artistic successes
Brian Wright conducted his third outstanding performance of Liszt's oratorio Christus with the choir in May 1990, which was broadcast. The Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel was among the line-up of soloists. The other highlight of the year was a performance of Bach's B Minor Mass at the Barbican in November.
The GCU has had relatively few excursions away from London over the years. However, August 1991 saw the choir performing at the Kings Lynn Festival with the London Choral Society and its conductor Ronald Corp. The main choral item of that concert was Rachmaninov's cantata The Bells. 1991 also saw fine performances of Verdi's Requiem in March at the RFH and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis at the Barbican Hall at the end of September.
The summer of 1992 saw the choir take part in National Music Day on a sweltering Clapham Common. Christmas 1992 was also the last carol concert on behalf of British Telecom.
The Diamond Jubilee and the first Gubbay Messiah
The 1992/3 season was the choir's 60th anniversary and Brian Wright's 20th as Music Director. This was marked by a 'celebration sing' of The Dream of Gerontius at Southwark Cathedral in April 1993.
The GCU workshop at Southwark Cathedral in 1993
This was a memorable occasion when many former members turned out to join us in a sing-through of this wonderful work. The anniversaries were further marked by a concert in July at the RFH. This concert, given with the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra, included Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and Walton's Belshazzar's Feast.
Over the previous two or three years, the GCU had been taking part in a series of Opera Galas and Classical Spectaculars promoted by Raymond Gubbay. It was good therefore to be asked by him to perform Messiah at the RAH in December 1993. Prior to this, the GCU had been famous for its own annual performances of Messiah at the RFH under both Frederick Haggis and later Brian Wright since its opening in 1951.
Mr. Haggis had had an unwritten contract to promote an annual December Messiah with the Greater London Council Arts Department, which ran the hall. But any such verbal agreement between the GLC and the GCU ceased following the demise of the GLC in 1986. The 1993 RAH performance for Raymond Gubbay was given under the baton of the famous violinist the late Sir Yehudi Menuhin. It was perhaps not the most inspiring – we missed Brian Wright's special interpretation of this marvellous oratorio. Brian was back in charge the following year, however, and a GCU Messiah is currently an annual part of Raymond Gubbay's huge Christmas Festival at the RAH.
New Venues, different music
Back to 1994, which saw a performance at the RFH in March of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius. This turned out to be our last visit there for seven years, mainly because of the difficulties mentioned above. Two performances of Messiah were given this year: before the one in the RAH, the GCU performed it with the Maidstone Symphony Orchestra, of which Brian Wright is music director, at Westminster Central Hall with a choir of 400 voices.
We joined with the Guildford Philhamonic Orchestra and Choir in March 1995 for a concert at the cathedral, which included Berlioz's grand Te Deum. In May we gave our first performance at St James's Church, Piccadilly, which included Fauré's Requiem. A move from the larger concert halls has given the GCU the chance to introduce into its repertoire a number of shorter works suitable for church settings. The choir has used St James's frequently since; we gave our first Christmas carol concert there in December 1995.
March 1996 saw a first performance at the Barbican Hall of a new translation of Bach's St Matthew Passion by Neil Jenkins. This turned out to be the start of an association with Neil who has made several other English versions of classic German oratorios and still is busy translating other works.
Monteverdi's Vespers was a feature of 1997 in May at the Barbican Hall. An unusual piano duet version of Brahms's A German Requiem, arranged by the composer, was the centrepiece of our autumn concert at St James's Church.
Abroad again
A concert of sacred pieces entitled Gregoriana, given at St James's in June 1998, was a precursor to a long weekend visit to give repeat concerts at Chateau Thierry and Reims Cathedral in France later that month.
The choir had not been overseas since 1989, so this trip to France was welcomed by many members.
A sad event befell the choir in February 1999 when our chairman at the time, Geoff Brazier, died suddenly at home at the tragically young age of 44. The second of our Neil Jenkins concerts in March at the Barbican – a new translation of Bach's St John Passion – was dedicated to Geoff's memory.
In November we were invited to perform at The Royal Concert with other choirs in the presence of HRH The Duke of Gloucester. Carl Orff's Carmina Burana was the main work. Peter Skellern joined us for our carol concert at the QEH where we included his Five Carols. To bring in the millennium, Raymond Gubbay asked for a choir of 500 for the annual Messiah concert. This was duly supplied and proved to be a most successful performance, even with such numbers.
Millennium Year and after
The year 2000 started with a fine performance of Bach's demanding B minor Mass with authentic instruments played by the Wren Baroque Orchestra at the Barbican Hall. Duruflé's Requiem was the main work of our summer concert at St James's Church. As in 1998, we took the same programme to Belgium, where we performed at the Ghent festival and at Kortrijk, a town in Flanders. The third of Neil Jenkins's translations, Bach's Christmas Oratorio, was performed at the Barbican Hall on 10 December with the Hanover Band. We again fielded some 500 singers for Messiah in 2000, a situation that seems set to be the norm!
We went back to the RFH in March 2001 for the first time for exactly seven years and gave a fine performance of The Dream of Gerontius with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the work we last gave there in 1994. It was good to be back! The season finished in June with Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Dvorak's rarely performed Requiem at St John's Church, Waterloo, another of the churches we now use regularly.
This is the point where the history of the Goldsmiths Choral Union ends and we reach the present day. The story of the GCU has been one of an independent choir run by volunteers making its way in an increasingly hostile commercial environment. But the choir is still there, still battling, and still providing audiences with some of the finest musical experiences available in London today. As it approaches its 70th anniversary in 2002/03, our hope is that the GCU will continue to entertain and stimulate its members and audiences for years to come.
